1879] REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 33 



" this portion " (that at the Skating-Rink) " was held, have 

 " good cause for congratulation in having presented the largest 

 " and most attractive show of fruits, vegetables, and flowers, that 

 " has ever been collected under one roof in any of the New 

 " England States." 



Waiving present consideration of the actual fact that former 

 Exhibitions of the Worcester County Horticultural Society, in 

 Mechanics Hall, were never even approached since, in bulk or 

 quality ; it will doubtless cause unfeigned surprise to the 

 Plotighman to learn that the aid and co-operation of this Society 

 was not even asked ! 



" Nothing succeeds like success," was the comment of one of 

 our modern superficial aphorists upon the casual good luck of a 

 Massachusetts mercenary politician. 



" For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole 

 " world and lose his own soul } " said He who spake as never 

 man spake. " C est magnifiqtie ! mai, ce n est pas la guerre ! " 

 exclaimed the bronzed veteran of France, as the Light Brigade 

 swept by him to glory and — annihilation. The question recurs 

 and will down at no bidding ; — the question put at your last 

 Annual Meeting and ignored at the first suggestion of a greed 

 that cared for aught but the true interests of Horticulture ; — 

 "Wherein, save in the domain of Flora, is not and would not a 

 Horticultural Exhibition, during the first week of September, 

 be premature ? " Barns and barracks may be stuffed to repletion 

 with the crude harvest of late Summers. But, in what manner, 

 and to what extent, do you thereby "encourage and advance 

 " the Science, and improve the Practice of Horticulture," — for 

 which, only, did John Green, Frederic William Paine, and 

 Anthony Chase ask to be incorporated ? Charles T. Foster 

 shows the Marie Louise at the Town Fair in Holden ; and the 

 observant reporter notes that it has grown one-fourth in bulk 

 within the ten days since the New England Agricultural Society 

 invited specimens for competition. The officers of the latter, 

 named organization pause, in their grand rounds of festivity, to 

 establish a class of yearling bulls ! No fault could fairly be 

 5 



